Sticky Hands

After every workout, Perttu Hyvärinen would rummage through his pockets and find the same problem. A small pile of used gel packets, and somewhere among them, his phone – covered in sticky energy gel that had leaked out along the torn edges of the empty packets. He didn't want to litter the trails or the forest, so he held onto the packets. They ended up back in his fanny pack or jacket pocket. At the end of a long training session, everything was a mess. Sticky hands, sticky phone, sticky everywhere. This had been happening for twenty years.

Perttu spent thirteen seasons in professional cross-country skiing at the highest level, represented Finland twice at the Olympics, and won a relay silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. In December of the same year, he achieved his first individual World Cup victory in the 10 km classic race in Toblach, Italy – a result born from over a decade of quiet, patient work at the pinnacle of one of the world's most demanding endurance sports. During that career, he consumed more gels than he could count. And every single one came in the same format: a small packet that you tear open, squeeze empty, and put in your pocket.

Every brand he tried offered something slightly different. A new flavor, a new recipe, a new claim on the front of the packaging. The packets remained the same. Whether it was skiing in the Finnish forest in January or running on a trail in the summer heat – the same problem. Different brands, different flavors, different marketing. The same torn packet. The same sticky hands.

Two squashed bananas

Jusman So had spent almost twenty-five years in professional kitchens. Born in Singapore, Jusman trained as a chef and was recognized as one of the country's most talented young culinary minds before going on to work in luxury hotels in seven countries across four continents—cooking and leading kitchens in some of the world's most demanding environments. He eventually settled in Finland with his Finnish wife and two children.

Running found him there. Forests are everywhere, and before long Jusman signed up for races no one should really enter if they've spent most of their career by a stove.

He completed the NUTS Ylläs Pallas 100 km in 2024 and the NUTS Karhunkierros 166 km in 2025. And ran a 3:05 marathon at 47. Along the way, he became greatly fascinated by the science explaining what happens in the body during such ultimate athletic performances. He founded The Endurance Lab podcast, where he discussed endurance performance with scientists, coaches, physiotherapists, and master athletes. Each conversation took him deeper into exercise physiology and nutrition: how the body absorbs carbohydrates, where the true limits are, and why so many athletes—himself included—were doing things wrong.

His first ultramarathon taught him more. He had decided to run without gels. He had seen enough athletes struggling with pouches in training to know he didn't want to do the same for twenty hours. The race organizers also suggested pre-squirting gels into a soft flask before the start. Jusman pondered how impractical that would be and quietly dismissed the idea.

He decided to run on bananas.

Around the 55-kilometer mark, between two aid stations 28 km apart, he left the aid station with two bananas in hand. He tripped on a root. Fell. When he got up, both bananas were squashed in his hands—gone. Another 25 kilometers to the next aid station, with nothing to eat.

There had to be a better way. He just didn't know what it was yet.

He went home and started reading, research papers on dual-transporter carbohydrate systems, osmolality, gastric emptying, GI distress at race intensity. He began to experiment—mixing maltodextrin with different dextrose equivalents and fructose in various ratios, testing concentrations, running on his own recipes to see what his stomach could handle and what it couldn't. The chef's instinct guided him: cut out all the unnecessary, keep only what truly works.

How everything fell into place

In 2024, the three of them were together on a film set in Kuopio.

Pekka Nuutinen had founded KomeroFood in 2015 — a ready-meal company built on the idea that people deserve proper food without the time and effort cooking requires. He had spent nearly a decade learning what it takes to develop food products, build a brand, navigate Finnish retail, and transform an idea into a real product.

Perttu was there as the face of KomeroFood — one of Finland's most famous skiers. Jusman had been invited as a consultant, lending his international culinary experience to the development of KomeroFood's new ready-meal concepts.

The three of them spent the day together on set. They talked. And somewhere amidst those discussions, they realised they were all thinking about the same problem from different perspectives. A skier with twenty years of frustration and sticky hands. A chef and ultrarunner who had been formulating gels at home and reading sports physiology research articles late into the night. A startup entrepreneur who knew exactly what it takes to turn an idea into a real product.

The product already existed, in crude form, in Jusman’s kitchen. The problem had existed for decades in Perttu’s fanny pack. All that was missing was the decision to actually build it.

Two years later, they founded N² Fuel. Nordic Natural Fuel. A solution designed from the ground up for ultrarunning trail runners. For someone who will be on the trail for eight, twenty, or even thirty hours, tired and cold with poles in hand and no trash cans for twenty kilometers, who needs to keep fueling without it becoming an extra mental and physical burden.

One large pouch designed to fit in a running vest pocket. A re-sealable valve from which you sip without breaking your stride. No synthetic preservatives, no artificial flavours, made in small batches in Finland. A recipe based on real science about how the body absorbs carbohydrates during sustained exertion — not what is cheapest to flavour or easiest to store for three years. Containing only what truly works.